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She’s Just An Abandoned Creature of Habitual Dependence

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She’s Just An Abandoned Creature of Habitual Dependence

Split leather dress with roofing metal, tar, acrylic, oil paint, apothecary vessels with Jameson whiskey, steel armature, rusted metal, dried wood, plastic, wire, circuitry, wasps nests, dried cactus stalk, newsprint, tissue paper on custom wood armature
51 x 18 x 12 in / 129.5 x 45.7 x 30.5 cm
2021

UN/SEEN — Mint Gallery - Atlanta, GA - 07.24.2021

"She’s Just An Abandoned Creature of Habitual Dependence" emerges from the intersection of deeply personal experience and universal archetypes, exploring the complexities of human relationships, identity, and transformation. This multimedia work, shaped by a decade of meticulous collection and assembly, weaves together materials imbued with memory, symbolism, and the uncanny.
 

At its core, the piece confronts the tectal and sexual dimensions of leather and the miniskirt, artifacts of intimacy and societal codification. The left composition, dominated by an ex-girlfriend’s small brown leather miniskirt, acts as a fragmented totem of desire and vulnerability. Leather, with its dual connotations of protection and exposure, becomes a metaphorical skin—both armor and revealing membrane. Its tactile quality draws viewers into a space that oscillates between attraction and discomfort, speaking to the lingering presence of physicality and memory in relationships.

The smaller composition, crafted from roofing metal and layered with tar, newsprint, and a faint black-and-white image of a woman, contrasts starkly with the leather. The roofing panel, with its industrial ruggedness, evokes impermanence and decay, framing the figure of a woman—both spectral and symbolic. This figure, her face obscured and her body marked by the interplay of paint, tar, and newsprint, evokes Babalon, the goddess of Thelema. Babalon, often associated with liberation, excess, and transformative power, is reimagined here as an embodiment of imbalance and dependency. The dried cactus and wood sprouting from her forehead, resembling diabolical horns, suggest both the pain of inner growth and the monstrous potential of unchecked desires. This transformation from human to creature is a commentary on the ways dependency and vice can erode individuality, reducing the self to a fragmented, otherworldly entity.
 

The inclusion of apothecary vessels filled with Jameson whiskey underscores the recurring theme of substance abuse and its ties to cycles of habitual dependence. These vessels, perched on a small wooden shelf, serve as reliquaries of vice, symbolizing both the allure and the destructive nature of alcohol. They invite contemplation on the delicate balance between consumption and compulsion, between indulgence and surrender.
 

The work’s narrative unfolds through its split composition, revealing the inherent imbalances in relationships, addiction, and personal identity. The duality of the leather and roofing metal reflects the tension between the sensual and the industrial, the intimate and the impersonal. This fragmentation mirrors the fractured nature of memory and experience, where past and present coexist uneasily, forming a mosaic of loss, longing, and reflection.
 

The work is not merely a personal exorcism but an invitation to the viewer to confront their own cycles of dependence, transformation, and worship. Through its layered materials and symbolic resonance, the piece becomes a mirror—reflecting the alchemy of human connection, the scars of imbalance, and the perpetual dance between the sacred and the profane.

© 1977-2025 Copyright | Thomas Arthur Schaefer | All Rights Reserved

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